MegaMan Zero: Rise of the Nightmare
by Andrew Borealis
Summary: My first MegaMan Zero fanfic. This is basically what's going to be put into sprite form on Newgrounds some time in the future once I can use Flash well... , so, I decided to see how all you people like it. I hope you do.
1. Revival

Hey, people, ready for a fanfic of the best MegaMan character ever? Well, check it out!

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own Zero... Besides, if I did, then the MegaMan Zero series would never have ended the way it did... (Why did Zero have to die? T_T)

Chapter 1: The Return

One year after the defeat of Dr. Weil and the supposed death of Zero…

"Everyone, scour the area! We need to find something that will allow us to bring him back!" one of the soldiers shouted. "Remember that his Control chip is mandatory for his revival! Dr. Ciel ordered this personally, so it must be done!"

The soldiers of the Resistance were scrambling about the wreckage of the battle. Everywhere, they searched, looking for pieces of their long-lost hero, Zero.

"I FOUND SOMETHING!" one of the soldiers exclaimed, holding up a broken helmet. "It's… It's Zero's helmet!"

The other soldiers rushed towards the area. They were anxious to make sure that Zero could be revived.

"EVERYONE, OVER HERE!" a voice said. The troops all looked in the direction the voice had come from, revealing the stern face of Harpuia, the Guardian. "Let me see the helmet." The soldier that was holding the remains walked up to the green-clad warrior, who took the helmet from him. "Hmm… Zero… To live or to die… Years ago, I would have found that question hard to answer…" Harpuia looked inside the base of the remains, and pulled out a datachip. "Take this to Dr. Ciel, our work here is done."

Harpuia bent over, noticing one other crucial thing on the ground. He reached down, and picked up the white handle of the Z-Saber. "He's going to need this when he wakes up…"

At the Resistance Base…

Ciel was pacing around her lab. She was anxious to see Zero again. Harpuia had called in an hour ago, saying that they found the control chip, as well as the Z-Saber, which meant that Zero could be brought back. Upon hearing this, Ciel was overjoyed, and Ceravu rushed off to his own lab to start putting the finishing touches on the new body for the hero.

Essentially, she was a wreck. For the past year, she had been thinking about the red Reploid every day. She still had research to complete, but she still worried about the most important person in her life. She waited… In the Commander's Room, by the Trans Server, an alarm sounded, notifying them of an incoming transfer. Harpuia and his task force appeared in a flash of white light.

"Transfer complete." The Operator stated.

"All right, get the Control Chip to the maintinence lab on the double!" Harpuia commanded. "The sooner we revive him, the better off we'll all be."

Ciel ran up to the Sky Lord. "Is everything ready?" Harpuia asked. Ciel merely nodded. "Fefnir and Leviathan will be overjoyed…"

"Yes…" Ciel replied. "And so will the rest of the world…" the researcher smiled warmly and ran to Ceravu's lab.

Inside the laboratory, a familiar body was in the process of being reconstructed in the maintinence pod. The Reploid scientist worked enthusiastically as Ciel entered the room, followed soon after by the Guardians of Neo Arcadia.

"So, are we ready to go?" Ceravu asked. He held out an eager hand.

Harpuia looked at Ceravu with his usual smirk on his face. "Indeed we are." With that, he held the Conrol Chip out for the scientist to take.

Ceravu looked the chip over, knowing full well what was going to happen once he put it in. Without a moment's hesitation, the chip was inside the body, and the helmet was on.

Zero's eyes opened in an instant. He sat up as quickly as possible.

"IRIS!" he screamed.


	2. Memories

Chapter 2: Memories

Zero's mind wandered. He had been in the abyss for a long time, now. He just couldn't remember _how_ long… He floated around, aimlessly, in the deep recesses of his own mind… All he saw around him were images of a time he thought lost…

The Maverick Wars… His fight against Vile, and his self-destruct… It was all becoming very clear to him, for some reason… Then, there was the time he and X were pitted against the insane Dr. Doppler, only to find that he was merely Sigma's pawn. Then… He met her…

_Zero was on a good will mission to the headquarters of the newest anti-Maverick army, Repliforce. He was already well aqquainted with it's Colonel. He was a fine Reploid in every sense of the word… He was calm, calculating, and a superb fighter…He had high hopes for this new force, hoping that they could possibly take some of the work off his back._

_"Ah! Zero!" Colonel called from across the room. "Zero, over here!" Zero looked up to find the sorce of the heavily accented British voice. He saw his friend and casually walked over to the platform the Colonel stood on._

_"Zero, there's someone I'd like to introduce you to…" Colonel began. He motioned to a young female Reploid sitting in the Support Unit's chair next to him. "She's going to be stationed at Maverick Hunter Headquarters as our representative from now on." The young girl sported a red and blue design, as well as some slight gold trimming. She wore a red barret that had the Repliforce logo emblazoned on it. Alternatively, she also sported a sash draped over her chest that also bore the Repliforce logo. She was obviously proud of being in this wonderful force._

_The young one hesitated… After about a minute, she finally took the outstretched hand of the red Maverick Hunter. "M-my name is Iris…"_

_"Oh, come on, sis, don't be shy…" Colonel said. "You'll be working with Zero here for quate a while, you know."_

_"I know…" Iris replied._

_Zero smiled and grasped Iris' shoulder. "It's OK, Iris, you're among friends."_

Zero's mind continued to drift… He saw memories of the time he and X took on Reploids known as the Soul Erasers… Iris had been their spotter for that mission. Then, the war started…

Repliforce had been blamed for an incident at the Sky Lagoon area. Zero had been the one to save most of the survivors there, and had asked Colonel and his unit to drop their weapons and come to prove their innocence. That struck a cord on the Colonel's pride, and it started a large-scale conflict between the two groups… Out of pure good will, Iris had stayed with the Maverick Hunters, all the while pleading with Zero to make sure he didn't fight with the only family she had. Over the period that Zero had known the girl, he had cared for her rather deeply, and was not hoping for what happened.

The fated encounter had finally happened. Zero and Colonel had finally fought, and Zero came out victorious… When he finally boarded the Final Weapon, he had one more fateful encounter…

Iris…

She had used the very battle data her brother had left behind to create a monsterous Ride Armor. She had completely lost herself in greif, and only saw it fair that Zero was to die… Let's just say it was the one fight Zero never wanted to win…

_In the shattered wreckage of the Ride Armor she used, Iris was lying still on the cold, hard floor… Zero's footsteps could be heard…_

_"Iris! IRIS!" Zero shouted as he kneeled down next to the girl. "Hang in there, Iris…"_

_Iris opened her eyes, slowly and gently… "Zero…" She began. "Stay away from Repliforce… Let's live together in a world where only Reploids exist…"_

_Zero took Iris into his arms, looking thoughtfully into her eyes. "Iris… There is no world just for Reploids… It's only a fantasy."_

_"I know…" Iris said. She started to move her hand up towards the Reploid she had loved for years. "But I wanted to believe… I wanted to live in a world… where only Reploids exist… with you…"_

_Zero took Iris' small, tender hand in his large bloodstained one. "IRIS!"_

_Iris merely smiled… Her eyes closed, and the Reploid that was once full of life, had her life extinguished…_

_Zero began shaking her now lifeless body… "Iris… Iris… Iris. Iris! IRIS!!!"_

_For the first time in years, Zero screamed in agony over the death of a friend._

_"No… this isn't happening! There's… There's no reason for me to go on… What… WHAT AM I FIGHTING FOR?!?!?!?!"_

At that moment, his eyes opened… Zero sat up as quickly as possible…

"IRIS!" he screamed.


	3. They Meet At Last

A/N: Hey, Chapter 3, finally. I just got everything working and have recently been inspired to do more with this, so I did. If you're wondering who meets who, you'll just have to read on…

Disclaimer: I don't own MegaMan Zero, but it is really awesome anyway.

Chapter 3: They Meet At Last

"IRIS!" Zero screamed as he woke up in his new body. He looked around, noticing that he wasn't in his dreams anymore. This was real.

"Zero!" Ciel shouted as she rushed forward and caught Zero in an enormous hug. "You're alive!"

Zero was taken aback by the sudden closeness, due to his very recent waking, and slowly wrapped his arms around the woman. "Yeah, Ciel, I'm alive…"

The other Resistance members, as well as the Guardians, had their greeting, all very simple "thanks for saving our butts four times." in various forms. Zero merely thanked them quietly.

"I'm glad you're all happy to see me," he began. "but I need to do some thinking right now…" And with that, Zero stood up and left the room.

Ciel waited about an hour before finally deciding that she had to talk to Zero again. Knowing him, he'd be thinking at the one place in the entire base that had a view. With that in mind, she took the elevator all the way down, seeing the red Reploid standing alone; looking out at the sky from the balcony that overlooked the valley.

"Zero…" Ciel started. "Are you all right?"

Zero looked back at her. "I'm fine." He told her.

"Do you mind if I stand next to you?" she asked.

"Not at all." Zero replied, motioning to his side. "I needed someone to talk to anyway, and there's not many others…"

"What about the Guardians?" Ciel wondered.

"They just want to have some sparring matches with me." Zero explained.

"Ceravu?" the scientist suggested.

"Will only want to talk about the stuff that's actually written down in history and how it actually went down, and Alouette isn't mature enough to know about this kind of stuff…"

"So, you have your memories back?" she asked. Zero merely nodded. "Then, what is it you want to talk about?"

"Well, it's Iris." Zero truthfully said.

"Wasn't she a major person in the Repliforce War?" Ciel queried.

"Yeah. I just figured you should know why I screamed her name when I woke up." Zero answered. "The bulk of my memories as of late have centered around her… She was… A lot more important to me than I let on…"

Ciel took this chance to look at the red Reploid, still taking in the fact that he was alive again. "I figured, if you were going to scream her name like that… What was Iris to you?"

"Most people thought she was just a friend. And so did I, for a long time." Zero continued. "But, really, she probably loved me more than anyone else ever did. She followed me around at H.Q. People were actually starting to call her 'Zero's puppy', or 'Zero's girlfriend'. I didn't mind the second one, really. That was just what they thought. Occasionally, I'd try to be alone, and it worked sometimes. She always seemed worried when she spotted for me… She had to monitor my life-signs, and had to see some really bad things… Let's just say that it wasn't something she was fond of, watching me fight. But she knew it had to be done… Then the war started… I was so focused on stopping Repliforce… I completely lost myself… Then, I had that fight with Colonel, the last fight with Colonel… And she…"

"It must have been hard…" Ciel stated.

"It was… I…" Zero was cut off…

A voice started sounding on the Comm system while an alarm started all around the base. "Mr. Zero! I know you only just woke up, but there's an intruder here looking for you!" the Operator said.

"I'm on my way." He replied, turning off the device and jumping off the ledge.

Zero grabbed onto the side of the wall and started sliding; reaching down to the storage units on his legs to pull out the weapon Harpuia gave him when he woke up. Arming the Z-Saber, Zero landed at the entrance of the base, noticing the silhouette of a female Reploid. She turned around as Zero dashed towards her, ready to strike, until she spoke…

"Zero!" she shouted, a tinge of a British accent in her voice. "I finally found you!"

Zero got a good look at her and put his blade away. She wore a red baret that sat atop long brown hair. The hair itself was tied in two places, letting the rest of it flow down to her knees. Her basic design was red and blue with slight gold trimming, and she also wore a red and blue skirt that went down to her knees. Zero remembered that look, but noticed that it had become more streamlined and comfortable-looking, much like his own.

"Iris?" Zero asked.

She merely nodded and looked at Zero lovingly with her big, blue eyes.


End file.
